Jujutsu Kaisen season 3 episode 4 is the anime’s most cathartic (and visually inventive) entry yet

Season 3 of Jujutsu Kaisen laid down the convoluted rules of the Culling Game last week, yielding an episode that allows Yuji Itadori and his allies to take stock of what’s coming next. MAPPA effectively used fluid illustrations and simplified flowcharts to break down Kenjaku’s grand plan, marking an improvement on the adapted chapters from Gege Akutami’s acclaimed manga. Episode 4, which covers the Maki Zenin-focused Perfect Preparation arc, runs five minutes longer than the average Jujutsu Kaisen episode, and there’s a good reason for that, since the story is spread across chapters 148–153 in the manga. Episode 4 does justice to this point-of-no-return moment in just under 28 minutes.

[Ed. note: This article contains spoilers for Jujutsu Kaisen season 3 episode 4.]

The episode opens with Maki entering the Zenin Clan estate to retrieve cursed tools with the permission of Megumi Fushiguro, the newly appointed clan head. Maki’s traumatic childhood was previously explored in season 1’s Kyoto Goodwill Event arc, which detailed how differently she and her twin sister, Mai, were treated growing up. The Zenin legacy has been deeply problematic and misogynistic for decades, compounded by their cruelty towards those born without cursed energy, like Maki and the now-deceased Toji Fushiguro. Maki’s arrival at the estate is immediately met with verbal abuse and disdain, courtesy of her mother and the brash, arrogant Naoya Zenin, who was introduced in the season premiere.

Maki is ambushed as soon as she enters the cursed warehouse, where her father, Ogi Zenin, is waiting to kill her. Ogi has already gutted Mai, who is seen bleeding out, while he activates his cursed technique, Falling Blossom Emotion, to end the fight in a single blow. The sight of blood-soaked Ogi cursing his daughters for his apparent indignity within the clan is abhorrent enough, but he also lures Maki into shattering his katana so that he can counter her with a fatal slash. Even Maki’s Dragon-Bone cursed tool isn’t able to block this attack, as it’s shrouded in the heartless duplicity of a father who detests his offspring for existing. As he drags Maki and Mai’s limp bodies towards a pit teeming with low-ranking curses, we see a dual trail of blood glinting in the darkness of the warehouse.

What comes next is Mai’s tragic sacrifice, which is referenced in the season 3 opening via John Everett Millais’ Ophelia, symbolizing unimaginable suffering and the balance between life and decay. Mai’s true feelings are finally spelled out when she uses her Construction technique to create a new cursed tool for Maki. In giving her own life, this also boosts her sister’s heavenly restriction, saving her life in the process. This sequence is hauntingly beautiful; Mai’s dream space exists outside of time with a stationary flock of birds soaring over an isolated beach. “Destroy everything,” Mai tells Maki before dying. This becomes the episode’s guiding principle — and its most cathartic element.

The rest of the episode is a brutal, frenetic chain of fight animation, with Maki embodying a John Wick-like rage while embarking on a revenge-fueled rampage. Maki’s unprecedented strength might feel unmoored from the perspective of those massacred, but her anger is tempered by the grief of losing her dear sister, lending the episode a raw, emotional quality. One of the action setpieces — where Maki faces off against the Kukuru Unit — is artfully tinted in monochrome, allowing exaggerated splashes of blood to paint the screen red as she annihilates them all. The manga details every aspect of this fight with stunning efficacy, but the episode’s sped-up dynamism doesn’t hamper the animated experience. If anything, these visual flourishes add urgency to the fights and a vicious edge to Maki’s enhanced abilities.

Image: MAPPA/Crunchyroll

The stakes escalate further when Mai is pitted against The Hei, the Zenin clan’s most elite unit of sorcerers. The combined techniques of Chojuro, Jinichi, and Ranta are no match for hers: huge rocks shatter on impact, throats are slit in the blink of an eye, and a severed head is carelessly tossed into a pond. This exhilarating sequence culminates in the highly-anticipated Maki vs. Naoya fight, where he’s too busy being in denial to notice she’s already figured out the trick to his speed-based cursed technique. Right when he thinks his super-speed is unbeatable, Maki intercepts Naoya and shatters his face in slow-motion while he pathetically attempts to utter the word “imposter.” It’s an incredibly satisfying K.O. moment, replete with a zoomed-in X-ray of Naoya’s jaw as it shatters into smithereens as soon as Maki lands the punch.

In the end, Maki confronts her mother, who had enabled the abuse against her daughters since they were kids. Staying true to her promise to destroy everything, Maki fatally wounds her. In her last moments, Maki’s mother stabs a horrifically wounded Naoya in the back, putting an end to the life of the misogynistic man who had physically abused Maki over the years. After Maki finishes off the remaining members of the Zenin clan, the Gojo and Kamo clans propose the removal of the Zenin clan from the Big Three Jujutsu Families, ending a legacy soaked in cruelty and prejudice.

Episode 4 of Jujutsu Kaisen is an incredible feat for MAPPA, both in terms of visceral storytelling and jaw-dropping animation. The quality of Maki’s arc is a good litmus test for the upcoming Culling Game, setting the scene for MAPPA to show off its knack for impressive fight-oriented animation.

New episodes of Jujutsu Kaisen season 3 release every Thursday on Crunchyroll.